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If you want to start a home garden to help the bees but don’t have a green thumb or haven’t yet tried your hand at gardening to know whether you have a green thumb, don’t lose hope.

Even novice gardeners can grow some flowers and vegetables and help bees and other pollinators thrive. It’s more important now than ever before for you to take a leap into gardening because bee populations are declining, and we rely on bees for pollinating about one-third of all our food. Simply put, without bees and other pollinators, global food production would take a devastating hit. Our three tips for novice gardeners will help you develop a green thumb and, more importantly, protect bees in your backyard.

1. Spend Time Preparing the Soil

If you have not gardened successfully in the past, spend time learning gardening dos and don’ts. For instance: preparing your soil for new flowers and vegetables is essential because a healthy garden results from healthy soil. It’s also wise to determine the pH of your soil using a soil testing kit from your local home improvement store or nursery. Bulbs typically need a pH balance between six and seven, so if yours is at a different level, talk with the experts at the store or nursery about how to make corrections by adding minerals such as limestone or lime sulfur. Beware of certain products that could be toxic to bees when making pH adjustments to your soil; by itself, sulfur is highly toxic to bees, yet lime sulfur products are safe for bees.

2. Ensure Your Garden Materials are Bee Safe

Sadly, much of what we do to help bees actually is responsible for killing them.

According to the Huffington Post, one report shows that 54% of regularly purchased so-called bee-friendly plants from chain home improvement stores contain neonicotinoid pesticides. The European Union has banned these pesticides on flowering crops, but they continue to be used and sold in the United States. You should look at the garden products and materials you have at home and immediately stop using those that contain neonicotinoids: the product labels will contain acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam as active ingredients.

The better bet is to start your garden with products that you know are organic and bee safe. You can do so by purchasing organic plant starts or growing plants from untreated seeds in organic potting soil. Then, avoid using soil, pesticides, and fertilizers that contain neonicotinoids and other ingredients that are toxic to bees. One trick is to attract beneficial insects that prey on pests in your garden by planting specific flowers and herbs. If you’re not sure which plants will attract beneficial insects, check out this post by Permaculture Research Institute. If you absolutely cannot get rid of pests without other interventions, use insecticidal soaps or oils or other eco-friendly pest control products. (Tip: Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford shares tips for making your own insecticidal soap.)

3. Choose Plants that are Easy to Grow and that Attract Bees

Novice gardeners won’t do much to help bees if they try to grow plants that are better suited to people with extremely green thumbs. You will have a much more successful garden and help bees thrive if you choose plants that are easy to grow and that bees love.

For example, lavender, black-eyed Susans, daylilies, and Spiraea, are easy plants that attract bees and provide them with plenty of pollen and nectar. If you want to plant an edible garden, there are some vegetables and herbs that are more attractive to bees than others, including artichoke, beans, cucumbers, peas, squash, basil, low-growing clover, mint, rosemary, and oregano.

Novice gardeners can do a great deal to help bees by doing their best to start a backyard garden. You should spend time preparing the soil, avoid garden materials that are toxic to bees, and choose plants that are easy to grow and that attract bees.

Hey Park City, don’t forget TODAY is Farmer’s Market day, we’re open till 6pm but don’t waste another minute to get here! You don’t want to miss all the awesome local goods Utah has to offer, stop by the Canyons Resort parking lot and stock up on your weekly supply! Hang out, grab some lunch, and check out all your Utah local vendors! ❤ See you there!

Typical in a winter mountain ski town, the ‘colds’ and ‘sniffles’ tend to linger. We stay up late nights on Main St. for last call, followed by early morning wake ups for ‘first chair’. This process when repeated, with not-so-healthy food added to the equation/ lack of proper nutrients, brings a toll to our system. Our immune systems become weak, inner terrain acidic, and thus more susceptible to colds and flu viruses. Therefore, it is important to try to make up for some of the negative things we do to our bodies with good things we can do.

Raw fruit and vegetable ‘juicing’ is one of those important things we can do, especially in our ski town winter environment -where we may not see a lot of fruits and veggies during the winter. Juicing allows you to intake the nutrients of large amounts of vegetables and fruits that we may normally not take the time to take with our busy schedules. For example, when was the last time you ate a dozen carrots in one sitting? With juicing you can intake that amount of nutrients in easy to finish delicious drink.

Juicing does, however, take out the ‘fiber’ in this process which gives you a concentrate of nutrients, versus blending fruits and veggies which retain fiber in the drink. There is nothing wrong with blending vs. juicing, however, the level of nutrients in a blended drink will not be as high. Fiber is important for your body, so if you juice a lot -make sure to keep that in mind. For more info on juicing here’s a link with the benefits described in further detail.

In Park City, you have a few options for getting your RAW juice intake. You can purchase local veggies and fruits from the Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays beginning in June. A home juicer can be purchased anywhere from the $80-250 price range. There are a few local places that offer raw juice in Park City. You can go to Fairweather’s and knock out some grocery shopping in the p
rocess. Booster juice also offers wheatgrass shots and other fruit smoothie drinks. And finally, there is a new company called
My Liquid
Garden that will deliver RAW juice to your Park City home or business! If you’re a Parkite and haven’t tried juicing yet, we hope you try it soon!

Happy Hump day! More importantly, happy Farmer’s Market day at The Canyons Resort! Don’t forget to swing by, we are open until 6pm for all your local fresh veggies, fruits, local food and gift vendors! See you there! 😀

Got boysenberries? Head down to the Park City Farmer’s Market TODAY from noon till 6pm at The Canyons Resort for best selection of Utah’s finest grown foods. We offer the very best organic, no spray, NON GMO food you can find in this wonderful State!

The Park City Farmer’s Market is in full swing. This is the best time of the year to come out and enjoy the fresh local produce from the efforts of your local Utah Farmers. The Park City Farmer’s Market is making a strong effort to support our local and non-GMO Farmer’s, using all organic and no pesticide spray methods. Please come out and enjoy the market today and invite your friends/family.